


Eyes Open

by DaScribbla



Series: Red [1]
Category: The Night Manager (TV)
Genre: Budding Love, Jealousy, Mirror Sex, Multi, This fic is Mature teetering on the edge into Explicit, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:57:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6354235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaScribbla/pseuds/DaScribbla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jed is aware that something has changed in her relationship with Richard. She's gradually finding out what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes Open

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. Someone had to.

Jed first knew that something had changed when Richard failed to so much as kiss her good night three times in a row. She was used to his frequent changes of mood, but there was something different about this. Even when he was angry or stressed, he still fucked like an animal. She wondered if he was losing interest and said as much one night, but he laughed her off, chucking her under the chin like he always did. 

“Hardly.”

But still, she wondered. And her wondering only increased when he stopped going to bed with her: instead, he came in at least an hour later and rolled in beside her without a word. For several nights she wondered if he’d started an affair with Caroline -- but that was unlikely unless Caroline possessed an unexpected sexual prowess. And if that were the case, her husband wouldn’t philander as much as he did.

She studied his face in the darkness, leaning in close enough to breathe him in. There was something different about his scent, and yet as she lay there gently inhaling, it didn’t seem unfamiliar. 

Jed pushed it to the back of her mind, as she did the rest of her doubts regarding Richard.

 

It wasn’t until after dinner one quiet evening that she understood. They’d moved onto the balcony and, perched on Richard’s lap, taking the sips of chianti that he offered her from his wine glass, she watched Thomas and Daniel work together in Daniel’s new sketchbook. She couldn’t see exactly, but it looked like they were drawing dinosaurs. Behind her, she heard Richard say --

“Thomas, tell me what you think of this wine. Tastes a little dry to me.”

Thomas stood up with a murmured word to Daniel and went to where they sat together. Jed was suddenly aware of all activity on the balcony stopping: Tabby and Frisky had paused in their conversation, Caroline and her husband were for once under a ceasefire, and Corky sat alone near the door, simply watching in a manner more sullen than usual.

Richard lifted the glass to Thomas’ lips and Jed found herself observing curiously as Thomas took a delicate sip, eyes locked on Richard the entire time. Suddenly, Jed felt something territorial rise up within her. 

_Back off. I know what that look means._

_He’s mine_.

“Just a little bit,” Thomas said, and with a nod went back to Daniel. As he passed her, she caught the edge of a familiar scent -- either the cologne he wore or the laundry detergent he used. 

That was what she’d smelled on Richard the other night. 

She said nothing, merely tucked her head into Richard’s neck. To her relief, he pulled her closer, one hand on her hip, as the conversation in the room slowly wound back up. Clearly, the rest of the party was aware of the new dynamic as well and had been watching to gauge the energy. 

She looked at Thomas and Daniel. The boy had begun sketching the spine of a triceratops and Thomas’ eyes flicked to where they were sitting -- to where _Richard_ was sitting, more accurately. But he looked away quickly, a rather charming blush rising to his face. 

Jed could almost see why Richard had turned his attentions on him.

 

Some kind of sick curiosity made her wonder about it, though; a desire to understand what exactly it was that had taken Richard from her. She didn’t want to think about it, but the thoughts wouldn’t leave her; they plagued her from the moment she knew what they were doing.

So she went to Thomas’ room and, after spending a minute or two gathering her courage, pressed her ear to the door. 

There wasn’t much to listen to -- just the occasional groan and a quiet, wet sound. She leaned against the door and immediately leaped back as it drifted open a little further. They hadn’t latched it. But the two figures she now saw at the large mirror in the corner noticed nothing but each other. 

She should have then turned away and gone to her own bed. But some part of her wanted to take everything in: how Richard kissed his neck while his hand worked between Thomas’ legs, how Thomas leaned against him, head lolling on his shoulder. Richard murmured something in his ear, and he hummed appreciatively in reply. That hurt. Richard loved to talk during sex -- they’d carried out full conversations between the sheets before -- but Jed had always assumed that that was _their_ thing. Now she knew he did it with anyone. 

It was impossible to look away. They were strangely pretty, with Thomas completely bare and Richard in an unfamiliar dressing gown. _Must belong to Thomas_ , she thought, and the idea made her feel a little bereft.  

Richard kissed the back of the other man’s neck and stepped back a little as Thomas braced his hands against the surface of the mirror. 

“Keep your eyes open,” Richard told him, nibbling on the lobe of his left ear, and Jed realized her hand was straying between her legs. She gritted her teeth and curled it into a fist, digging her nails into her palm. She wouldn’t go that far. She wouldn’t admit to herself how erotic it was. 

The first few thrusts were shallow, and she saw in Thomas’ reflection the skin around his eyes tighten in pain. Richard ran his hands up and down his sides, still rolling his hips. His mouth was somewhere in Thomas’ hair and he was saying something, but Jed couldn’t hear from where she was. 

How dare they be so beautiful together? What gave them the right? Richard had been _hers_ long before Thomas was ever a part of the team. She should have hated them for what they were doing, but instead, all she could do was drink them in. 

How dare they. And how dare Thomas take Richard from her? It should have been her in that mirror with him. 

Thomas cried out suddenly, hands curling into fists against the mirror. Richard laughed a little, hips working at the same slow pace, but rolling deeper.

“Shh…”

Jed was ashamed to feel tears pricking at her eyes. He was _hers._ Or -- she was _his_. She didn’t know. The particulars of their relationship were confusing, to say the least. 

Thomas was flushed, panting, his eyes screwed shut. 

“What did I say about those eyes?” said Richard, and brought his hand to Thomas’ erection. Thomas’s eyes flew open as he caught his breath, staring at them both in the mirror. “Well?” continued Richard. “What did I say?”

“You said… keep them --” he hissed, “-- open --” He fell flush against the mirror with a mewl as Richard thrust especially deeply. Their pace was quickening and Jed could tell from the raggedness of his breathing that it wouldn’t be long. 

“You might as well,” said Richard between thrusts, “come in, Jeds.” Jed took a step back, eyes wide, as her lover looked over at her, hips slowing to a stop. He jerked his head in a come-here gesture. Alerted by the ceasing of their rhythm more than by what Richard had said, Thomas looked away from the mirror. His eyes widened. “Are you going to… stand there all night?”

Thomas was blushing even harder. Jed hadn’t realized it was possible to be that red. 

“Jed?”

Cautiously, waiting for him to change his mind, Jed stepped inside the room. Going by the heat in her cheeks, she was blushing too. She hadn’t meant to be caught. She’d just wanted to see and now here she was. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t --”

It was just as well Richard interrupted her; she didn’t know what she would have said anyway. 

“Jeds, if you want to watch you might as well get a quality view, hm?” Richard motioned her closer and kissed her hard. Until then, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that.

Thomas had covered his face with his hands, whether from frustration or shame she couldn’t say. On impulse, she took his hands from his face. And she couldn’t say what possessed her then, but she put a hand around his neck and kissed him.

“Eyes open,” she murmured.

The growl they heard was from Richard, finding their rhythm again, and Thomas sighed nearly simultaneously. Lying back on the bed, Jed finally allowed her hand beneath the waist of her silk pajama bottoms and sighed in relief. The coverlets smelled like Thomas, and somehow that was all the more arousing. 

Watching them together was entrancing. Whenever one moved, the other would respond in some way -- a shift of Thomas’ hips would make Richard groan; the stroking of a nipple and Thomas would bite his lip hard and look up at the ceiling as if in prayer. Jed could see their faces in the mirror. 

It didn’t last much longer; she wondered if the now-raw knowledge that she was there and watching heightened the experience. Moving her hand in time with Richard’s thrusts, their breath almost synchronized, she felt the climax for herself when her lover came undone. And within minutes, Thomas finished with Richard’s hand around his cock. Then he slumped forward, Richard catching him to hold him close against his chest. Turning in his arms, Thomas kissed him and lay his head on his shoulder -- Jed wondered if Richard had expected that. When he was with her, they were always tactile, but never quite affectionate. The thought made her feel hollow, somehow.

They were still kissing and finally, Jed decided that she didn’t need to take it lying down, as it were. She stood and joined them at the mirror once more to drag her lips over the back of Richard’s neck, up to his jaw. Over his shoulder, Jed made eye contact with Thomas, and she couldn’t tell if there was a challenge or deference in that gaze. Or was that desire? His eyes were dark enough.

 

It was later that night, when Richard was asleep between them in Thomas’ bed, that Jed found herself staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Heard a shuddering exhale from her lover’s other side. When she looked over, she saw that Thomas, too, was gazing into the darkness. He must have sensed she was watching him -- he turned to look at her, liquid eyes in the blackness. Very slowly, he nodded to her. She didn’t know what it meant, whether a truce or a declaration of some sort. But he nestled closer to Richard, bending his head into his neck in much the same way that Jed had earlier that evening.

They didn’t stop looking at each other, eyes fixed, as their hands, draped over Richard’s chest, just brushed.

She didn’t know what it all meant -- these constant lingering glances, this rivalry for Richard’s attention, this ambiguity of feelings. Everything had been so much simpler before Thomas had shown up and skewed everything. 

The night wore on and Jed watched Thomas after he finally drifted off, wondering how the tables could turn so quickly and if they’d ever stop. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr as andtheansweris42 if you want to chat.


End file.
